


Surreal Images

by Tarlan



Series: Images [2]
Category: Jade (1995)
Genre: Drama, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-09-26
Updated: 2006-09-26
Packaged: 2017-10-18 17:20:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/191329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Corelli discovers there is more to life than work and, in doing so, finds the key to a problem.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Surreal Images

**Author's Note:**

> My poor attempt at the November 2000 American Football challenge.

This new case was bugging Corelli. He had a murder victim and a prime suspect who denied being there but who had been caught on video. In addition, a couple of seemingly reliable witnesses had come forward to put the man at the scene at the time of the murder, verifying the video footage - and yet he was certain that there was something very wrong with the whole set-up. He just could not put his finger on it, and it was this that was driving him nuts. Of course it did not help that most everyone in his office was too incensed by the election result for the new chief prosecutor for San Francisco to concentrate on this seemingly open and shut case.

This election should have taken place over a year ago but the events surrounding the arrest and imprisonment of the corrupt Governor Edwards had forestalled the process.

Corelli shook his head. One year ago he would have been the only man in the running for Chief Prosecutor. He seemed to have everything that was required: an excellent court record, well placed friends and acquaintances and an impeccable private life that was free from any slur or doubt. All that had changed with the murder of Kyle Medford. Now he had the same excellent court record, most of those same well-placed friends but quite a few less of the well-placed acquaintances, and he had the sort of private life that caused people to whisper behind his back whenever he passed by even after all this time. Corelli grinned - and he would not change any of it. DA Williams was more than welcome to have the job.

His people were all annoyed that he had been overlooked for the position but, to be truthful, he had never wanted it anyway. He had always loathed the politics, the innumerable boring parties that he would be forced to attend - and he hated playing golf. There were far better ways to spend his free time these days, mainly in the comfort of his own home. He grimaced. Home was where he ought to be right now rather than sitting in his office going through these case notes for the umpteenth time, trying to find the elusive key that would unlock the reason for his feelings of doubt.

He knew his prevarication was causing a lot of bad feeling, especially in the media department which he had banned from issuing a news report until he gave the go ahead. The murder of a child always brought out a lot of anger and hostility. People wanted to know who could commit such a terrible crime; they wanted to see someone brought to justice. He rubbed his eyes as he glanced down at the papers once more, then he took out the photos snapped from the security video camera, studying them closely once more, but his tired mind started to drift.

Corelli smiled, allowing his thoughts to travel down a well-worn path, one that led him to the reason for all the gossip and snide comments that filtered through from time to time. As if summoned by his thoughts, his cellphone began to beep, the caller ID turning the smile into a grin of pleasure.

"Hey, babe."

 _Hey, yourself._ Corelli sighed as the warm, soft voice floated through the ether. _What time you getting home this afternoon?_

"Gonna be a little late... maybe four or five. Why? Did you have something planned?"

 _No. Just thought I'd remind you the game starts soon after one._

"Shit! I forgot. Been so tied up with this damn case."

 _S'okay. The 49ers are gonna get trashed anyhow._

"No way! With the Rams quarterback on the bench with injuries, and with the 49ers Garner, Garcia winning combination we can't lose."

 _Wanna place a bet on that. Put your money where your mouth is?_

"Yeah! If the Rams win I'll cook dinner for a month." Corelli grinned then sighed, the grin turning to a grimace. "Hey, babe. I'll see if I can get away. God knows I've put in enough hours already this week - and this ought to have been an open, shut case."

 _Yeah. Look, you know it's okay... if you want to work late. I'll see you when you get home._

Corelli disconnected the call and leaned back in his chair, his thoughts focusing inwards on the tall, lean man who had captured his heart and soul. He remembered the feel of his lover's silky skin pressed against his own earlier this morning, droplets of sweat beading on heated flesh as they rocked together seeking mutual satisfaction. He recalled the way those beautiful green eyes had glazed over as the moment of annihilation had swept over his lover, and he could hear again the soft gasps falling from those luscious lips as they parted in ecstasy. Their joint climax had spilled between their close-pressed bodies, smearing across tight stomachs, the lessening of friction sending them spiraling higher still before they plummeted back to the sweat-soaked sheets.

He remembered leaning up on one elbow and looking down the length of his satiated lover, his eyes trailing from the dark blond hair feathered out on the pillow down the muscular chest, across the cum-splattered lower body then following a path of darker hair to the now quiescent sex, and lower, down the lean thighs to the tips of his lover's toes.

Everything about Bob Hargrove was beautiful: every sinew, every muscle, every curve, every line - and every bullet scar. Even the sun-kissed skin held a soft, golden glow, except for the ivory flesh of his ass cheeks, proving his lover did not sunbathe nude.

That thought brought another grin stretching across his face. Sundays were a day he had learned to treasure since Bob became an important part of his life; it was the one day they spent lounging around together, teasing, caressing - talking. Corelli snarled to himself then leapt to his feet, moving swiftly to his office door.

"Karen. You still have a copy of the video that came from the security camera?"

Karen Heller glanced up from her desk where she had been bent over examining a report, nodding her head in confusion.

"Then go get it. I'm taking this lot home."

She came back within ten minutes and he quickly stowed the video copy into his briefcase along with several other documents.

"Remember the deadline is seven this evening."

He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. They had to formally charge Bryant by seven - or let him go. That was the law.

"Yeah. I'll call you before then."

He gave Karen a half-hearted grin, grabbed his suit jacket and set off.

***

The game had only just started when Corelli arrived home, although he had missed the first play. He tugged off his tie and threw it aside, stripped off his jacket and spread it over the back of a chair to avoid it getting creased. Corelli leaned over the back of the couch and kissed the upturned face before coming around the side and slumping down next to his lover.

"Miss much?"

"Nah."

Corelli looked across, noticing the way the early afternoon light played with the spun gold in the sun-streaked hair, giving his lover a shimmering halo effect. Teasing, smoky green eyes turned towards him as his lover sensed he was being watched. The soft mouth had curved up into a smile; the Cupid's bow flattening, the slight indentation at the center of the luscious lower lip fading. A bolt of lust zapped into Corelli's groin as the tantalizing tip of a pink tongue sneaked out to wet those full, smiling lips. Later Corelli realized he had no idea who moved first but it did not matter. All that mattered was the strong body that was suddenly in his arms, and the warmth of silky skin beneath his fingertips as his hands moved under the baggy t-shirt, caressing his lover.

The roar of the crowd was lost beneath the thunder of the blood pounding through his veins, pulsing into his groin. Clothes disappeared, to be later found strewn around the room where they had been flung aside with untamed force. He latched onto a dusky pink nipple, suckling and biting as the bud hardened, his head held tight to the almost hairless chest. Other strong fingers carded through his hair before trailing down his back, leaving his skin tingling in their path. Corelli pushed away only so far so he could move to bite and lick across the tight pecs, moving upwards to the juncture of shoulder and neck, his mouth biting down hard and sucking on the delicate flesh. A groan reverberated through him as he continued to suck and nip at the offered throat, slowly forcing his lover backwards until Corelli was lying on top. He ground his hardened flesh against his lover's belly, feeling an answering hardness against his own, and whispered softly before rimming the shell of his lover's ear.

"Want you."

"I'm yours."

"Bedroom."

"Couch."

Corelli smiled as he met the laughing eyes, gave his lover a quick kiss then stood up, dragging Bob up with him, his voice husky with want, but uncompromising.

"Bedroom."

Corelli pulled the firm body against his side as they stumbled towards the bedroom, then they were falling onto the large bed, the spring of the mattress cushioning their fall. He renewed his assault on the beautiful body, stopping only once to admire his earlier handiwork as the livid red mark on his lover's throat caught his attention.

Mine!

Another searing flash of desire went straight to his groin, his shaft jutting out as it filled with evidence of his all-consuming lust for this man. He lowered himself down, covering the lean body possessively with caresses of hand, lips and tongue, reveling in the feel of those strong, lean fingers gliding across his back and down until his ass cheeks were being kneaded, one cupped in each hand. He moved up suddenly, repositioning himself and coaxed Bob over onto his stomach. Corelli's teeth and lips trailed down the muscular back, tongue lapping at the sweet beads of fresh sweat pooling in the dip of lower back. He paused only to open the bedside drawer and dunk his fingers into an already opened jar of lubricant, smiling at the evidence of his lover's forward planning.

He pressed first one then two fingers through the tight ring of muscle, stroking long and hard into the velvet soft channel, waiting for that moment when his lover would cry out as his fingers brushed across that sensitive place deep inside. He was not disappointed, feeling Bob relax even further beneath him.

"Now! Can't wait any longer."

Corelli pulled out his fingers, anointed his shaft with more lubricant and positioned himself against the relaxed muscle. He pushed in firmly, his hands digging into the lean hips, holding his lover steady. A groan filled the air; a heady mixture of pleasure and pain.

"Yessss."

Corelli began to rock gently, gradually building up momentum until he was slamming into the welcoming heat, his thighs smacking against the firm, round ass cheeks. He let go of one hip, his hand sliding beneath his lover to grasp the hardened erection, letting his hand glide along the aching flesh in time with his own thrusts into the willing body. All too soon he felt a warmth spread through him, radiating outwards from his groin, burning along his nerve endings - setting his own body aflame. He came, spurting deep within his lover then cried out again as the oversensitive head was gripped by tightened inner muscles, feeling his lover's hot release covering his fingers.

They collapsed sideways, his flesh still embedded within his lover, hands stroking and caressing, soft words of endearment and reassurance spilling from his lips as he kissed the nape of his lover's neck. Eventually his softened shaft slipped from its hot sheath and he moved, allowing Bob to roll onto his back, adoring the sight of that pleasure-satiated face with eyelids heavy and mouth curved up in a self-satisfied smile.

Corelli recalled the way the early morning sunlight had seeped through the half shuttered blinds, striping the relaxed figure in light and darkness, adding to the surreality of the image. He stared as, in contrast, the still bright sunshine picked up the same pattern but in a different direction, its beams striping the body diagonally providing a new set of surreal images as it cast its strange shadows over the golden flesh and about the room.

Corelli frowned. Surreal images? Sunlight? He leaped off the bed, hearing a grunt of discomfort as his elbow jabbed his drowsy lover. Corelli made his way to his briefcase and pulled out the photos one at a time, studying them carefully, another more feral grin slowly forming on his face as it became apparent that what everyone had assumed was late afternoon - because of the testimony of the witnesses - became the obvious glare of the morning sun. The lack of lengthening shadows crawling over the grayed image was the key his mind had sought.

The autopsy had placed the death of the little girl between three and five in the afternoon so the image taken from the camera had to be incorrectly time-stamped. He brought the photos back to his lover's side. Hargrove was sitting up, squirming a little uncomfortably from the mixture of softly aching muscle and the wet, stickiness of rapidly cooling semen seeping from his body, a frown making two vertical lines above his nose. The frown deepened when Corelli threw the cover over him then handed him the photos instead of the expected washcloth.

"Suddenly embarrassed by my naked body?"

Corelli leered. "No, just need my blood to stay put in my head while I do some thinking. Looking at you naked has a tendency of sending it on a detour south." He grinned appreciatively at his lover and felt his heart flip at the answering smile. Corelli visibly pulled his thoughts away from the beautiful face and body. "Okay. One question. What time of day would you say that is?"

Hargrove looked at the photos, noting the time-stamp but ignoring it.

"Which way is this facing?"

"Due east."

"Then I'd say the clock in the photo is right and the video time-stamp is out by several hours."

Corelli snatched the photo back. "Clock?" He gazed hard into the grainy photo then focused on the area where a slim finger tapped. "Shit! How the fuck did we miss that?"

Corelli leaped off the bed again and fetched the video tape, slamming it into the VCR in the bedroom. He fast-forward to the time-stamp that had been snapped for the photos; the time that showed his prime suspect entering then, later, leaving the building. Corelli squinted, letting Bob commandeer the remote control, watching the screen as he fast-forward through several more hours.

"Freeze."

Bob stopped the tape and together they watched as Corelli spotted one of his seemingly reliable witnesses dragging a hand through his unkempt, sweat-matted hair, his eyes darting about in fear before he pushed through the doors. Corelli swallowed hard, his eyes hardening as he made a note of the time on the barely visible clock. He turned to his lover.

"I think I need to have another talk with my so-called witnesses."

He grabbed the phone and called the office, expecting to find Karen Heller still poring over the documents on her desk. A year ago he would have been right there too, having no desire to sit alone in an otherwise empty apartment. All that had changed once Bob Hargrove had become his lover. There were times when he still could not believe it; the dark thoughts of those early days after the Medford murder resurfacing. He saw again the viciousness and anger passing across the usually gentle face as Hargrove attacked him in Trina Gavin's house; saw the beautiful, sleek body fall beneath a hail of bullets. He remembered the days in Washington, watching Hargrove heal, working with him under guard of the FBI while they put together a case that would send Governor Edwards and his aide, William Barrett, to jail for a long time.

He still had no recollection of when begrudging respect had turned to friendship - then love - but a last ditch attempt by Edwards, to kill this most important witness against him, had revealed the truth Corelli had kept hidden even from himself. Since then they had made a new life for themselves - together.

It had worried him, at first, that he now had everything he ever wanted: the work he adored and this beautiful man sharing his life and bed, but what of Bob Hargrove? Hargrove had lost almost everything because of Edwards blackmail. He had lost the gold detective shield he had worked so hard for, and he had lost his status and respect in the Police department along with it. Corelli knew that Hargrove had regained some of that respect as a private investigator; the license Corelli had helped him to obtain allowing him to continue working in a field he had enjoyed for the most part.

But was it enough?

His lover had insisted that it was enough, that he had gained far more than he had lost, including peace of mind in knowing that all his dirty secrets were out in the open.

Corelli spared a loving glance at his partner as he watched those green eyes soften with love for him before his attention was caught by Karen Heller picking up the phone. With a smile of pleasure and gratitude aimed at his lover, Corelli told her what they had found.

"But if you don't mind chasing this up yourself, I have a game to watch."

Bob frowned then sighed as he realized the VCR had clicked off leaving the television screen showing the game. He shook his head in resignation as Corelli dropped the phone back onto its cradle, the blue eyes glued to the screen where the last quarter was about to start, one hand flicking the strands of red hair from his forehead. Bob settled back against the pillows and watched the action on-screen, his gaze flicking to his lover, occasionally, with a self-indulgent smile lifting the corners of his mouth.

After taking an early lead the 49ers were now tied with the Rams so everything hung on this last quarter. Corelli started cheering as Garner took an early 75-yard touchdown run.

"What! No way!"

Bob laughed as the umpire grabbed his wrist, indicating a holding foul against 49ers center Jeremy Newberry, and four plays later Faulk slipped into the end zone to catch a perfectly thrown pass from the Rams quarterback, Trent Green. Less than fifteen minutes later it was all over. The 49ers had lost 34-24 to the St Louis Rams.

"A month worth of dinners. I seem to recall that being the bet. So... what's for dinner tonight?"

Corelli looked at the smug expression on his lover's face and picked up the phone. He tapped in a number, a wicked smile crossing his face as he saw confusion growing in the smoky green eyes.

"One large pizza with pepperoni, green pepper and extra cheese... hold the onion."

Corelli barely had time to put down the phone before he was whacked on the side of the head with a pillow.

THE END


End file.
